Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Sunday,
June 26, 2016

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Most of the major cycling countries are having their national championships through June 26. Here's where I'm posting the results. If you are interested in historical national champ info, here's a lot of data.

Beyond the sad news about Stig Broeck, it was a relatively quiet day, coming just before several important national road championships.

Stig Broeckx in vegetative state

This heartbreaking news came from Lotto-Soudal:

BRI Note: Stig Broeckx crashed badly late May at the Toir of Belgium. What follows is news of his condition from his team.

The past days the neurosurgical team of the hospital in Genk has reduced the medication of Stig in an attempt to get him out of coma. Unfortunately Stig doesn’t respond to stimuli like sound or movement. The doctors confirm that Stig has incurred severe brain damage, in the brain stem and different brain regions. He is now in a vegetative state. At the moment it is difficult to predict if the consciousness can partially come back.

Out of respect for the family there won’t be any further comments.

Stig Broeckx in better days, at the 2014 Tour Down Under

Dylan Groenewegen new Dutch champ

LottoNL-Jumbo sent me this:

Dylan Groenewegen won the Dutch championship in Ouddorp today. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s sprinter finished off the strong lead-out Timo Roosen gave him on the Brouwersdam to beat Wouter Wippert (Cannondale) and Wim Stroetinga (Parkhotel Valkenburg).

Team LottoNL-Jumbo went completely for the chances of its sprinter Groenewegen during the Dutch championship. Groenewegen already won six races before the championship and was protected by his team-mates in every breakaway and in the peloton. “It was quite chaotic for a long time,” Groenewegen said. “Everyone wanted to be part of the breakaway and there was always one of us among the leaders. The whole team did its best to bring a sprint. We succeeded and Timo Roosen delivered a perfect lead-out. Stroetinga went for his chances early, but I immediately felt that I had more power.”

Dylan Groenewegen earlier this year at the Ster Toer

Groenewegen passed Stroetinga and didn’t let Wippert come closer, so he was able to put on the red, white and blue jersey afterwards. “That’s amazing,” the new Dutch champion said. “This is the first time that I am the Dutch champion. The last time that the team grabbed the title was quite long ago and I was the main favourite as well, so I felt some pressure. I was very confident, on the other hand. We finished it off as a team.”

Jan Boven added that the most important thing succeeded. “We wanted to have the new Dutch champion,” the sports director said. “When you create a profile like today’s in Goeree-Overflakkee, you get an exciting championship. The big part of today’s race wasn’t too nervous, but the local laps were. We had to be very focussed in those kilometres. Mike Teunissen, Moreno Hofland and Bert-Jan Lindeman paid attention to that job.”

“It was a big fight from start to finish. The average speed of the race was 48 kilometres an hour and that says a lot about the way they were riding.” A leading group with Bram Tankink, Boy van Poppel (Trek), Mathieu van der Poel (Beobank-Corendon) and Huub Duijn (Roompot) grabbed a 20-second lead. “That wasn’t a good situation. We had to work hard in the chase, but if those riders wouldn’t have escaped, others would have. It was at least a good thing that Tankink was among them. We made sure that the four riders who had their jobs during the the preparation of the sprint started that part of the race fresh. With 1.5 kilometre to go, we took control of the race and held it until the end.”